July 6, 2012 12:59am EDTJuly 5, 2012 5:42pm EDTBryce Harper isn't feeling the pressure of being baseball's most scrutinized rookie. The 19-year-old phenom is having fun and learning the ropes from a welcoming group of Washington veterans.

ATLANTA—Sparks tend to fly when Nationals rookie Bryce Harper laces up his spikes.

Sometimes, literally.

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A few minutes after the conclusion of his minor-league debut with Single A Hagerstown last April, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2010 draft was en route to his own personal postgame press conference. As he took his first halting step onto the concrete walkway behind the back batting cages at State Mutual Stadium, home of the Rome Braves, Harper’s metal spikes sent up a couple of small sparks.

So, naturally, the young phenom did what pretty much any other 18-year-old male would have—with every increasingly aggressive step, Harper drove his spikes into the walkway, creating an impressive display of light shooting up from the scarred concrete floor.

He smiled, easily amused.

A little more than 16 months later and about 70 miles south of Rome, which was one of his favorite minor-league stops, Harper leans back in the cushioned chair in front of his locker at Atlanta’s Turner Field and thinks back fondly on that moment. “I did it a couple of times,” he says with a grin. “I like that. I do that a lot, actually. I started when I was about 10 years old. I’ve always thought that was pretty cool.”

The Nationals think what Harper has accomplished is pretty cool, too.

He made his professional debut in the 2010 Arizona Fall League, and his whirlwind tour of the Washington farm system included 72 games at Hagerstown and 37 at Class AA Harrisburg in 2011, then 20 games at Triple A Syracuse to open this season. His final minor-league totals—probably ever, barring a future rehab assignment—are 459 at-bats, 28 doubles, 18 home runs, 61 RBIs, 27 stolen bases, .290 average and .865 OPS.

Not that he thinks back to those days in the minors much anymore.

“Live in the day,” he says, “live for today, tomorrow and the next.”

Harper made his major-league debut on April 28, four-and-a-half months shy of his 20th birthday, and he quickly changed the conversation. Through his first 60 games, Harper is hitting .283 with eight homers, 25 RBIs, eight stolen bases and an .836 OPS. When he arrived in D.C., the question was, “Is this kid ready for the big leagues?” Now, it’s “Should he be an All-Star?”

Harper was part of the fan vote for the final All-Star spot, along with St. Louis’ David Freese, Atlanta’s Michael Bourn and Arizona’s Aaron Hill. Freese won the fan vote, though Harper could still eventually get into the game as an injury replacement. Nationals manager Davey Johnson, who said he thought Harper deserved to go, was privately hoping he wouldn’t be voted into the game. “I hope he gets the rest,” Johnson said last weekend. “I’ve been playing him every day, every inning, so I hope he gets the rest.”

Johnson has written Harper in the starting lineup every game since his arrival except one, against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on June 10. In that contest, Harper drew a pinch-hit walk with one out the ninth inning, then scored what proved to be the winning run by racing home all the way from first on a double by Roger Bernadina.

Harper, who owns one of the best outfield arms in the game, has started 23 games in center field, 29 in right and seven in left. His enthusiasm in the field and on the basepaths has been impossible to miss, though over-exuberance has gotten him in trouble from time to time. And there have been times he’s suffered through mini-slumps, too, but it’s all part of the learning process. “We know he’s been banged up a little bit here and there, and he’s gone out there and grinded and never once complained,” shortstop Ian Desmond says. “He’s taken his 0-fers and he’s had some lumps, but he’s bounced back. To be an All-Star and to be an elite in this game, you have to be able to bounce back, and he’s shown me he can do that.”

There are far more teenage pitchers who have succeeded in the majors than teenage hitters. The gold standard for young lumber-jockeys is Mel Ott, the Hall of Famer who made his debut at 17 and hit .322 with 18 homers, 77 RBIs and a .921 OPS during his 19-year-old season. Obviously, Harper’s a long way from matching Ott’s career accomplishments, but that’s not really relevant for the 2012 season.

“He’s 19, and he’s having fun,” pitcher Edwin Jackson says. “He’s full of energy, exciting to watch. He’s going to be something special.”

His production has been good for any rookie of any age, but Harper seems unfazed in the heat of a pennant race—and, yes, for the Nationals, this is a pennant race, even though it’s only July. When he got the call to the majors, the Nationals, who have finished last in the NL East in five of the seven seasons they’ve been in D.C., had a one-game lead in the division; that lead was at 4 1/2 games by the start of play Friday. And expectations for him, which reached a fever pitch when he became the No. 1 pick, have been enormous since he was on Sports Illustrated’s cover back when he was still in high school in Nevada.

“Kinda feel for him a little bit,” says Atlanta’s Jason Heyward, the No. 14 overall pick of the 2007 draft who made his debut for the Braves in 2010 at age 20. “Not that he’s someone who need sympathy or anything, but as someone who’s been in that situation. He’s had even more hype than I had coming up. He’s playing the game like he needs to play it. I’m sure he wants to improve, like myself. Let’s keep going, keep getting better, and I feel like that’s the same thing he wants to do. It’s early for him, he hasn’t even made it to the All-Star break yet. I’m sure he’s having a good time, taking it all in and having a blast, which is what you have to do.”

Nobody in today’s game has gone through exactly what Harper is experiencing, but there are guys who have been through similar situations, and several of them are in his clubhouse. Nationals’ ace Stephen Strasburg, who was named to his first All-Star Game this season, was the No. 1 pick of the 2009 draft. Jackson made his major-league debut for the Dodgers on his 20th birthday in 2003, and center fielder Rick Ankiel made his debut for the Cardinals shortly after his 20th birthday, in 1999.

“Things happened so quickly before I really realized what was going on, and then it settles in,” Jackson says. “He hasn’t figured it out. He’s still young and has some learning to do, and that’s going to make him that much better. When you can come in and be that good but still have a lot of learning to do, that just shows what kind of person he is and what kind of player he is.”

The education of Bryce Harper has been greatly enhanced by a welcoming Washington clubhouse, an ideal mix of youngsters and veterans such as Ankiel, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth, among others. “What they’re doing with Bryce is incredible,” says Gio Gonzalez, a starter who will join Strasburg in the All-Star Game. “Every day they work with him and every day he gets better. They know what they’re doing. This is the veteran group you want to be around. They’ve got so much knowledge, why not sit down with them and talk to them as much as you can? I deeply appreciate that.”

Harper appreciates it, too. Like every other young star in the clubhouse, Harper is a bit of a baseball sponge. “Ankiel and LaRoche and Werth and Zim, those are four guys I talk to a lot, every day,” he says. “It’s good to have those guys when I’ve been up here for my first 50 or 60 games. It’s just great to have them. It’s been a lot of fun to be up here, and it’s a blessing to be here with those type of guys.”

It’s also a blessing to be with a winning team, because it takes some of the pressure off Harper. He doesn’t need to be a franchise savior when the franchise doesn’t need saving. All he needs to do is provide a spark from time to time, and he’s obviously pretty good at that.